Brass Catcher Question - how effective is the CMM

I'm usually going to the range with a Salyer 1911 and a S&W Model 52.  Both usually eject their brass more or less over my right shoulder, and I find the shells on the ground about eight feet away from me.  Would the CMM brass catcher somehow capture those, or is it only to keep brass from being thrown directly to my right?

Speaking of that, when I used some reloads I was given for my M-52, the shells wanted to be ejected more or less to my right.  The fellow to the right of me suggested I get a brass catcher - I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the target for my brass.

The CMM is back in stock, for about $100.  It seems to be the version that most people here like.  Can one of you tell me how effective it is, both for a shooter towards my right side, and for shells that are mostly been ejected behind me?

Have a fellow shooter position the catcher during practice. The CMM is effective in the right position. I too shoot a M52 and you will need to move the catcher for the 1911.

I have had mine for a couple years now. Best hundred bucks I’ve spent in a while. Extremely well made and very effective. Quite often when changing guns it has to be readjusted a little.

I'm very happy with mine. Make sure you tighten the Allen head set screws for the net frame so when you get it adjusted where you want it, it stays adjusted.

The CMM brass catcher has worked with every pistol I shoot.  It doesn't take long to figure out how to adjust it. 
- Dave

I recently purchased a new CMM Brass Catcher, although it included assembly instructions and how to adjust height & net angle, I am at a loss as to how to stop side to side/right to left movement. I can foresee the net acting as a weather vane at Perry or any range experiencing wind. Has anyone else experienced this frustration and if so, what is the issue and how can it be corrected?
I contacted CMM two weeks ago, but to date---CRICKETS. Except for this challenge, it's a great device, but in my opinion, prompt support & service should follow the sale.

If it is working as a weather vane you need to tighten the rod going into the frame. The adjustment clamp screw is probably working perfectly but the bar is loose. Very hard to get a good grip and tighten. I finally grabbed it with a large set of pliers (added loktite) and cranked it tight. No more weather vane.

Len

here

I've used my CMM brass catcher about three dozen times.  Along the way I found:

1.  There is a closure at the bottom of the net that keeps all the brass from falling out.  That's really useful and needs to be kept closed except when emptying the brass!

2.  An allen (hex) key is included and held on with an o-ring.  Turns out that is for adjusting the square loop tension so it will stay vertical. 

3.  The telescoping part of the extension has an o-ring and a hex nut which acts like a compression sleeve for tubing (that's the best description I got).  Tightening that hex nut provides friction for left and right movement.  The base needs to be attached tightly to the extension.  I added a piece of (5/8?) radiator hose which aids in tightening the extension to the base and also protects nearby furniture in storage.

4.  I've only used mine with 45 acp, but get about 90% brass capture.  While that's not 100%, the CMM is the best design I've seen (including some of my 'homemade' attempts).

I expect with more use I'll find out more or better ways to use the brass catcher.  I've only seen one other guy use it where I shoot.  It takes a bit of dedication for assembly/disassembly but saves a lot of bending and picking up brass.

Bullseye_Stan wrote: It takes a bit of dedication for assembly/disassembly but saves a lot of bending and picking up brass.

Not sure I follow this. It takes me 10s to set up.  I keep the base attached so all I need to do is rotate up the top part and then push out the metal wires that hold the netting in place.  

Given the right location I get 98% of my brass.  It took me a while to get it positioned correctly for the M9 which ejects higher and back ward over my shoulder.

To elaborate on my comment about 'dedication', when I use the CMM catcher I either need to carry it in another 'bag' or use the attached mount on my 3 pistol box.  So, it's one more thing to carry then set up along with getting the net adjusted correctly.  Compared to shooting a .22 (which requires no brass net), it is another step in the preparation when shooting center fire and then requires disassembly at the end of the match along with emptying the brass into another container. 

Not that any of the above is significant, per se, but it all seems to 'add up' in terms of 'stuff'.  I'm not the quickest anymore at setup and disassembly so I'm often the last to store all my stuff.  But then, I started using the CMM in October '17 and have only used it for ~ 18 league matches along with practice shooting.  With more use, I expect to get better at setup and storage.  YMMV, of course.

p.s. I started up Bullseye two gun shooting with a .22 then center fire NMC after a 25 year hiatus from competition.  Previously, only .22's were used in a local (but much larger) league.  My inexperience with center fire (45) shooting probably accounts for some of my clumsy demeanor, but that's how I chose to do this.  As a note: I recently broke 500 with a 502 (264 @ .22 & 238 @ .45) - that was a psychological hurdle.

At Perry, where it can rain sideways and the wind can blow targets right out of the frames, a CMM acts like a sail. I never use one at Perry. Any loss of brass is chalked up as part of the Perry experience.

I carry a clamp with me to affix to the shooting bench when needed. I have also used a strap for benches where the clamp does not work.

I like mine, had it for a year now. When it's windy at our range, I use a couple a shot bags filled with sand. The benches are real low and I have to extend it pretty high, which levers it more in the wind, I would have to do that with any kind of brasscatcher.
 Stan

I have one, works well with my bulleye gun (1911) that is set up for light loads.  Does not work that well for my Springfield XD shooting full power loads.  The XD seems to throw the brass much more vigorously.

Len, maybe I was overthinking the problem. I was of the opinion that the plastic bushing should accomplish two functions with finger tightening of the knurled knob & nut: 1) hold the rod at the desired height and 2) eliminate side to side movement. I tried your suggestion and found that you were right again, even a "monster grip" on the knurled knob and nut would not stop the side to side movement, so I applied your suggestion and put the pliers to it. After several tightening and testing experiments with the pliers, it eliminated the side to side movement and turned it into an effective brass catcher rather than a weather vane. 
Now when I go to the range or a match, I'll have a pair of small pliers in my back pocket rather than in my gun box. I would not want to give other shooters the impression that I use common pliers on my Marvel Conversion or Clark 1911.              Thanks Len, appreciated!

Brassmaster what's wrong with timing your shots with the spinning weather vane so it catches your empty brass ?

Skid wrote:Brassmaster what's wrong with timing your shots with the spinning weather vane so it catches your empty brass ?

Unless there is a 30-40 MPH wind spinning it, there is no real challenge.

Nothing wrong with that.  I've been trying to work on my timing on rapid - and timing that vane rotation with the shots to catch the brass opens up a whole new dimension!   On a more serious note - yes it can surely turn in the wind if it is gusty.  I'm thinking of drilling and tapping that black sleeve portion and add a thumb screw or something similar as the compression nut don't always add the needed rotation friction.  If I do that I'll add a pic.  Looks like a 8-32 or maybe 10-24 would do the trick. CMM is a great / best design for catcher but always room for improvement.

I've had mine for a few years and works great.  Get a lot of comments at the range regarding it.  I bought the bench clamp as well as the heavy base and 3 different length stems.  I can adjust height dependent on how the pistol/rifle is throwing by changing out the stems (rifle/some pistols are more straight out right an others are more up).  Using the bench clamp makes it pretty easy to carry, smaller than the triangle base and a lot lighter.  All the pieces are very well made and will last a lifetime.  Expensive but buy it once....

WillH wrote:Nothing wrong with that.  I've been trying to work on my timing on rapid - and timing that vane rotation with the shots to catch the brass opens up a whole new dimension!   On a more serious note - yes it can surely turn in the wind if it is gusty.  I'm thinking of drilling and tapping that black sleeve portion and add a thumb screw or something similar as the compression nut don't always add the needed rotation friction.  If I do that I'll add a pic.  Looks like a 8-32 or maybe 10-24 would do the trick. CMM is a great / best design for catcher but always room for improvement.

You are building a better mousetrap. I'm sticking with Len's sage advice and I put the (small) pliers to the knurled nob and nut and that seems to stop the weather vane effect. If the bushings play out, maybe I'll follow your lead and drill & tap and add a set screw.
To quote an overused Yuppie expression, " thanks for thinking outside the box."

In another vein, in our group, we have a crusty old Gunny that was a Marine rifle & pistol competition trainer his whole military career and except for a couple of tours in Vietnam, he was ferried all over the globe to teach competitive marksmanship. He had a drill that he used to assist shooters in mastering their cadence in timed & rapid fire stages. He would  stand behind them and with a small bat, bang on a 55 gallon drum as a timing signal to fire throughout the string of five shots. According to Gunny, this home-spun method brought positive results in mastering a proper cadence to timed & rapid fire stages.
I don't know how the Marines performed during a match, we did not get to that part of the discussion. However, given today's technology, one could duplicate this drill using his MP3 Player and ear buds. I've never tried this drill, but anytime I have the opportunity to garner sage advice from crusty, but highly experienced Gunnies or a two-time Military and Civilian National Match winner and members of the 2650+ club, I deploy my antennae.

How well the brass catcher works would be related to our loads and the distance from the pistol.  One can adjust the height along with the fore and aft positions, but bring it as close as possible without interfering.  On a cooler day with my pistol using a 10 lb. recoil spring (slide scope mount), 3.7BE with a 185gr bullet would have a 30% miss rate but very little problem with 3.8 BE.  I like the felt recoil of 3.8 BE also.  Of course there are other factors, but one can control these two factors easily.

Under windy conditions, I pull out my Cecil velcro straps, one for the gun box and one for the brass catcher.  I wrap the strap a couple of times around the bottom of the brass catcher shaft and tightly secure this along with the base around the bench.  I like the "military green" and the "macho black."  I don't believe the hot pink would work as well.  Too distracting!    

CMM sells their brass catcher with one of 3 different shaft lengths.  Can somebody who has one please tell me what the maximum and minimum distance is from the bench top to the bottom of the screen frame, and what length shaft you have.  I'm trying to figure out which shaft to get.

Thanks much.

Forget my previous post.  I just found the info I need on their website.

brassmaster wrote:

Skid wrote:Brassmaster what's wrong with timing your shots with the spinning weather vane so it catches your empty brass ?

Unless there is a 30-40 MPH wind spinning it, there is no real challenge.

     Dang your good

brassmaster wrote:I recently purchased a new CMM Brass Catcher, although it included assembly instructions and how to adjust height & net angle, I am at a loss as to how to stop side to side/right to left movement. I can foresee the net acting as a weather vane at Perry or any range experiencing wind. Has anyone else experienced this frustration and if so, what is the issue and how can it be corrected?
I contacted CMM two weeks ago, but to date---CRICKETS. Except for this challenge, it's a great device, but in my opinion, prompt support & service should follow the sale.

that's one of the two problems.  the width of the stem is greater than the depth of the holes in the net mount... so its an unstable connection by definition.  and yep it swings in the wind at perry, so i took mine to a fabulous guy in boyertown who welded on a neck piece, a collar, to solve that problem.  The second problem is that the connection between the inner stem and outer stem is a plastic bushing.  that just ain't gonna work long. so again, that same fab guy from boyertown drilled a hole in the outer stem and put in a screw, so i can tighten it easily at the height i want.  so, its a real great idea, just not well executed.  the company doesn't seem to have come back to perry after that first year, at least i never saw them again.